what's up?

i knew i had one

i finally noticed a message in my inbox from the owner of this car.

he was actually asking if i’d taken any pics of his car at the hawaiian gardens car show from last week. i said i’d get back to him, as i unfortunately had to work all day yesterday.

mentioned it to my better half, who had one, and i sent it off to the owner.

so today, when i finally had time to look through my images, i found that no, i did not in fact take a pic of it at that show. he had the hood open, and i usually pass those by.

but i figured he’d probably been to some other shows, so i looked through some older stuff.

yup, found i’d shot it, not long before i left the bomb club show last month. he must have arrived later in the morning, as i didn’t find it in the early morning shots from the parking lot staging area.

the hood was open, but for some reason or other, i took a couple of pics. maybe the light was right. maybe he was watching, and some guys are just hoping you take a picture of their baby. maybe i knew i was out of energy from the heat, and was heading out, and i hate to leave…whatever.

pretty sure if i keep looking, i’d eventually find it at some other show, especially if the hood was down. :)

shoot your shot

first bunch of cars as i entered the field. set up my tripod and got to work.

first car in the row, a chevy, of course. :) i see that i was not the only one taking a picture of it. i hope he got a good shot.

don’t think it could go any lower than that; it’s basically sitting on the dirt.

home today, enjoying this juneteenth off from work. mostly enjoying my air conditioning. it’s hot outside. i should have taken tomorrow off, but didn’t. should be a quiet day anyway, time to figure out how to solve a design project that is vexing me.

a ray of sunshine

what to write, what to write.

a small contingent of bikes showed up in the parking lot at the bomb club show. there were a couple of exceptional bikes, and others, that could be bought at the dealership as is, i suppose.

this bike stood out, being so bright and colorful compared to the others.

we spent this past weekend down in san diego. no reason. better half just wanted to escape.

it was surprisingly not very crowded, in spite of expected protests and also father’s day. maybe everyone was at the nearby del mar fairgrounds. the padres were away, playing elsewhere, so there’s that. no marathons were happening, so we were able to find a reasonably priced hotel.

could probably have stayed, or at least visited at my sister-in-law’s home, but it just isn’t the same without my brother still there. just being in the city, always brings up memories of when we’d take him with us for the day, out on a harbor cruise, or midway, or balboa park. or they inviting us to dinner, only for us to pick up the check after they both would look elsewhere until we grabbed it.

perhaps we will retire there, though we’re happy where we are for now. as long as we can both climb the stairs. getting old sucks.

good time was had

quick post, as i’m off to my mom’s house for the evening.

better half and i got up early and headed out to arcadia, to check out the bomb club supershow for this year. and again, we should have gotten up even earlier, as we had originally planned—we heard there were cars waiting outside the gate by four a.m., but we both need a bit more sleep.

as it was, we arrived abound six, sun was up, though cloaked by overcast skies, for at least a few hours. we got to shooting quickly. the cars were parked all in rows, and more continued to arrive while we were there.

i like taking pics in the staging areas. cars aren’t so crammed in so closely that you can’t move about, to find an interesting angle. also know, that we’ll see them inside, on the field, and shoot them again, in a more ‘scenic’ location.

although the flyers said roll in was at nine, cars were still waiting when i asked security about getting inside, at nine-thirty. i should have asked sooner, as i was able to get right in after passing through screening. called my better half, who was still hanging out in the parking lot, to let him know he could get in now.

many cars had been let in the night before, so there were plenty to shoot already in place. now that i was inside, i knew it was a race with the sun and it’s heat to get as many cars as i could in my camera.

many cars were still being uncovered and polished in preparation for the day. i found the pontiac above, near the fence in the back to the left of the betting windows. it was a beautiful car. the owner said that i should come back when the sun comes out, so as to see the pearlessence of the paint and how it sparkles.

as it turned out, it did get sunny and hot about eleven, and i simply did not make it back, though i did think to do so. my better half convinced me to leave, over-protective as he is, and as i was looking a bit wretched from the heat.

there was a whole field of cars that we didn’t even see. alas. until we meet again.

missed it

here’s a chevy from the bomb club show at santa anita. from five years ago. it’s marbleized like a bowling ball, only better. the pinstriped details help tie in the gold of the rims. and red and gold…my high school colors.

i missed yesterday’s show, since it’s hard to shoot pics at santa anita when you’re in phoenix with no camera, but even with a camera, just couldn’t do it.

from the pics i have seen online, i missed a really good show. :(… looked packed. read about some people complaining that it took too long to get out at the end of the show.

flight from phoenix was happily uneventful. i timed everything out perfectly, from check out at the hotel, to bfast, to car return. only a little wait at security. i actually had an empty seat next to me, so yay.

i will miss the hotel. after a week there, i had deciphered the various ways back to my room from any direction, or outside door, for a quick dash in from the heat. i remember my disappointment when i saw the sign over the door across from my room, “ice stairs,” imagining slippery, cold, blue stairs, with icicle rails. nope. an ice machine, then another door. then plain, cement stairs, warm air, some pipes, leading to the oven that is outside. also, locked on the outside, so always had to walk a little further if i went around that outer perimeter of the building. best to do in the morning or the evening, after five pm.

i haven’t checked on the work i have missed while i was gone, but suspect no one else picked it up for me either.

backing up old files today, doing some shopping, hanging with my better half, who did come pick me up at the airport after all.

i’ve missed this cold, overcast. there’s no place like home.

sraining

it rained half the night, into morning here today. better have says i slur my words a lot, so i’d say it’s “sraining.” how very elvis of me. more rain coming tonight, and half of tomorrow. i love it. cold and gloomy.

stayed home most of the weekend, wrapping the eternal/infernal xmas tree with the usual ten thousand plus frigging lights. my hands and arms are scratched from the wire branches, and even my ankles have been shanked by the lower branches this year. maybe socks would help. thousands of little fruity lights. perhaps you might remember the tree just a block from uptown whitter. probably could have seen it from a plane.

anyway, it’s my gift to my better half, to get the thing wrapped with lights, since he’s been so busy with work lately. it makes him happy, to remember how much his mother loved xmas and that damn tree. so there you go. it will be up to him to decorate to whatever theme—did toy story again last year, so something else from storage and his mother’s ornament collection.

another car from the bomb club show. i hope you’re not tired of them yet. i have more to post. perhaps i should dip into the archives and post old ones?

nah, it was overcast that day, so it fits with my mood and the current weather, so that decides it.

nice car, and i managed to get no one moving thought the shot here, off to the side of the field.

i'm tired

i’m thinking that i need a new computer and more hard drive space. hoping to get to more shows in the future, and this camera pops out big files—but not as big as the files on my better half’s new camera. he’s already got himself a new gift for the holidays, and hopes to join me at some car shows.

he came with me to the bomb club show in october, and had a good time. was using his old camera with a lens he hadn’t used in a while.

we both shot this car. i just saw it over his shoulder, on his computer. he’s thinking about posting again on his website, which he’s ignored for far too long. not sure when or if he’ll share his version, but i like mine.

cars are moving in the background, and the owner is in the car, so this from the end of the show and drive out.

i’ve had a cold since thanksgiving. probably a bit earlier than that, when i complained to my doctor about my earache. earache, my eye. she said nothing was wrong then. nothing is ever wrong when i bother to go to a doctor’s office.

this thing moved from behind my eyes down to my throat and has pretty much stayed there. i’m coughing up a lung, even after two weeks, though i have no other symptoms. tested negative for covid at least four times now, so just a boring old cold, i guess.

i’m hoping to shake it off before the next vail headquarters car show in a couple of weeks. all the better reason to go out and see my grandkids there in temecula.

as you would expect, if you’ve read this blog for a few years, i’m not in the mood for xmas, and haven’t even looked at buying gifts yet, if at all. i’ve got some time off coming up, so maybe we’ll get out of the house, or help my mom put the decorations away after the holidays.

can’t believe my dad will have been gone four years come xmas eve.

sunshine

life can’t be all chevrolets and rainbows. sometimes i shoot the bikes, if they are more remarkable than off the shelf.

caught this one just before the gang were either getting ready to leave, or to just hang out by the bikes. had to change the angle of the shots to try to keep most of them out of the picture.

love the airbrushing and chrome. i hope they got it home before the rain started.

wildfire

last shot i promised to post. also the last shot of the night, from the field.

almost gave up, as a group of people kept milling around behind it. finally just said screw it, and shot a couple of sets of exposures. people walking through the shots come out as blurred figures, but at least they were behind the car.

the owner had originally been in the driver’s seat, getting the car started, to get in line to exit the park. seeing me set up my tripod, and basically stand there waiting on the exposures for several minutes, got him to turn on the lights, and out of the car.

he spent the time chatting with my better half, who always seems to explain what i’m doing. most people are happy to give me some minutes to shoot. my better half is more chatty than i, and better at it, anyway.

i like the glow, hence the game of thrones reference. better than “pyromancer’s piss.”

cool burn

i’m just going to post up a few pics that i’d promised from the bomb club show, then sift through others that i liked.

here’s the third one we had a chat with before we left. i should write these stories down within the day of the event, as the details start eluding me rather quickly.

what i think she said was that they’d just gotten this truck back from either getting the paint job and / or other body work, and that otherwise, they only take it out for car shows. i believe it wasn’t a daily driver; better half thinks she said it was a daily driver. looking at that paint, i’m more sure it isn’t.

beautiful flame paint. driving it would put too many chips in it, i would think.